Philip Glass says hi-ho to opera about Walt Disney

What to do with three Academy Award nominations, eight symphonies and a swathe of film scores and solo works under your belt? For esteemed classical composer Philip Glass, the next logical step would naturally be an opera about the life of Walt Disney, right? So it's no surprise, then, that he was commissioned to do just that.

The opera, based on the novel The Perfect American, is set to honor Glass's 75th birthday. The plot of the book centers on a fictional artist who worked for Disney in the '40s and '50s, and retells the meteoric rise of the House of Mouse.

The show is scheduled to open the New York City Opera's 2012-2013 season. The NYCO will also be staging Glass' Einstein on the Beach for their 2009-2010 season, though the opera is woefully short on cryogenically-frozen animation magnates.